We had a baby boy over Christmas and all I can say I am so proud. I don’t want to wish the time away but I am excited to get him out on the ice and water. What age did you guys that have kids bring them out for the first time? 3? 4? 2? To be honest it all kind of scares me.
I don’t ice fish, but I took my daughter out on the boat with me when she was 2 and she caught her first fish when she was 3.
The trips were short due to the attention span at that age, and there was more playing with the bait then there was fishing the first few times, but it was fun and continues to be fun every time I take her along. She turned 5 this past summer.
It was easy for me to know when it was time- I got asked repeatedly to go in the boat- just to motor around. Then I started getting a lot of assistance getting the fishing gear ready to go fishing and then the “when are we going fishing?” question started to be a daily occurrence.
Plan a day when the bite has been hot and the weather looks good but be sure to take along another adult and have lots of snacks and activities available to help pass the time.
100_0057.jpg
Take them whenever you want. Just be ready to bring other things for them to do and to leave when they want to leave. If you force them to stay, it will be a bad experience for them and they won’t want to go again.
My oldest turned 3 in September. I took him out to the wheel house last winter, but I didn’t have any expectations other than that he’d get bored. He lasted about an hour before we headed off the lake.
This winter, he’s gone with me every time I’ve hit the ice, both in the portable and in the wheel house. I make sure to bring some toys for him to play with if he gets bored, but for the most part, he just likes to sit there and fish. He loves it, as you can see by the picture.
My only rule for ice fishing is that if the entire kid can fit down the hole, they can’t go.
I won’t take him muskie fishing until he settles down a bit, though. He’s 5 places at once and casting those big lures with a little Tazmanian Devil whizzing around the boat is a recipe for disaster.
will-fish.jpg
ice-fishing1.jpg
The womb
My oldest turned 3 in September. This past summer, he really got into fishing, but his attention span is short. I took him in the boat once, but I will avoid doing that again until he can focus a little longer. He has a blast with short sessions from the dock, though.
IMG_5522.jpg
My oldest is 7, the youngest is 4. I had the oldest out in the 16′ boat on Winnebago on a good day at 4 but was prepared to get off the lake within 10 minutes of leaving the breakwall. Of course he knew there were snacks and was into them before I finished parking the truck and trailer. With the purchase of a Ranger 620 I had them out late September for 6 hours but we were catching fish. Here’s what happens when you turn your back on the 4 year old and he’s not watching where he’s going….both legs in an 8″ hole up to his hip. We were laughing about it by the time we were at the truck. The 7 year old loves looking at the sonar and has caught fish we’ll see if that trend continues and he’s stoked to continue to go with me.
IMG_20150117_131008_556.jpg
IMG_20150117_121555_248.jpg
Great pics! 
My rule when my kids were little was to not wait for them to get crabby. We’d be catching sunnies like crazy and I’d say it’s time to go. Leaving while they’re happy and catching fish would lead to them being excited for the next time.
They’re 24 & 25 now and love to fish.
Had my boy out in the boat at 2 weeks. We changed many, many diapers on the floor of the boat over the first two summers. He has been a pretty constant partner ever since.
Almost never too early, congratulations! Your life just changed in ways you can’t even imagine! 
Ralph said it well-my kids didn’t care for the boat, it was too confining for short attention spans. I’ve found this plan to work well, especially on young ones:
1: Find a place to fish from shore safely. Let ’em catch frogs, look for clam shells, crayfish, whatever. You know, let ’em play and putz around, whether the fish are biting or not-after all, the whole point is to enjoy it right?
2: Bring snacks. Snacks are paramount, and fun(we sneak the good snacks in after Mom has packed our healthy stuff). 
3: Bring appropriate clothing, and spares. Hard or soft water, they WILL get wet/dirty/cold. I finally caught on ice fishing-instead of hounding them to not get their gloves wet, I just started bringing spares and it worked so much better. Which leads to…
4: Be mentally prepared to leave at the first sign they’re done. It may be hours, it may be 15 minutes. Leave when/before they’re cold/tired/hungry/bored/crabby and they’ll always want to go again. My Dad would take me and I’d be miserable, cold, hungry and be stuck till HE was ready to go. My Mom says it’s a miracle I even like to fish(no accounting for genetics I guess). Don’t do that.
5: Bring a rod for yourself if you must, but just get it in your head that you’re not going to use it. Better yet, leave it at home. You’ll be busy baiting, unhooking fish(hopefully) and untangling God know what mess…
6: Let them keep some fish if at all possible. Maybe not every time, but more often than not. Even if it means quarter size filets off of their 4″ bluegills-fry up THEIR fish and just see how proud they are!
It may be a heck of a change to your angling methods and attitudes(it was to mine), but if you can do this or some form of it, the rewards and happy moments you’ll get are amazing! One of the best days I’ve ever had came last spring when I played hooky and took my 4yr old son out while his sisters were in school and fiddled around with bluegill-just me and him, the guys out together.
It’s different, and more work than you know-but it’s awesome! 
Happy father-fishing!
-Rev
I have 4 boys ranging from 7-27 and they were all different and to this day none of them fish much as hard as I’ve tried. I’ve learned my short time out is an eternity for them. An ideal trip would be for dad to have his act together, absolutely know you’ll go somewhere and nearly instantly catch a fish, and absolutely know everything you plan to have them use works as flawlessly as possible. Go on the best possible weather days when all the stars line up… falling barometer, peak solar time, etc. Too hot and they’ll wilt, too cold and it’s dangerous. They don’t make boots and mits for kids nearly as warm and if you do get something nice it’ll last less than a season and they’ll grow out of it so don’t waste the money unless you plan on having a lot of kids. Bring lots of snacks. Promise them McD’s on the way home. Don’t plan on fishing yourself. Ice fish or fish from shore or bring someone to operate the boat because it’s hard to run a boat and watch a child close enough. Bring playmates with their dads so you can give them all the attention each one needs and then you might be able to fish for 20-30 minutes while they plan and eat snacks later. Remember they don’t really want to fish, if you got them to go they just want to have fun with dad. If you make it a fantastically fun event your chances to get them to go again and often are still only about 10% so try again every year or two. And don’t forget safety, even from shore a lifevest is critical. In a blink of an eye a kid will be in the water even if they’re right next to you.
Reverend’s tips are spot-on. Bravo!
Great Tips REV! I love the cooking their fish one. I didn’t think of that one! That being said look at my picture that was at 20 months old! Yeah his big for his age. Fished off the dock at Lake Wisota State park for 45 minutes the first time. Didn’t catch a thing. He just liked casting and reeling the line back in. The next week we went to a local pond and he caught some tout and wouldn’t let me touch the pole either. Had to do it his self. He lost every fish but loved doing it his self. His first ice trip is coming up in a couple weeks. HE always wants to fish with dad. I just bring treats and he’s the only one that fishes. It’s so much fun!
Revs input parallels most of what my dad did for me. I still remeber him cleaning those (5-6)” sunfish. Unfortunately mine hasn’t shown an interest yet, maybe that will change, (I hope)?
Thanks all for the responses. I am excited to introduce him to the outdoors.
Good advice so far. It’s really about spending time with your kids. The fishing is an afterthought.
I have three rules about taking my girls (ages 3 and 5).
1. I decide the days that we go fishing. Conditions have to be perfect and I reserve the option to call it off at any point.
2. I have a zero tolerance policy on misbehavior. If you don’t listen to me we pack up and go home.
3. The kids decide when we leave. That might mean 20 minutes or 3 hours.
Couple other tips I learned on the ice this year too…
Pick spots that are short walks.
Go on sunny days that are around 20 degrees–If it’s too warm out they get soaking wet.
Try to get on a non-stop panfish bite, especially if you can sight fish them. My kids can go about 5 minutes jigging without catching a fish and then they’re done. It’s also really fun to set the hook on a fish and hand the pole over without saying anything, and let them figure it out.
Tip ups also work really well for kids. They can play around with dad on the ice and watch for flags.
My girls were both 3 their first time out.
Not sure when I personally started but was definitely actively fishing by 4 yrs old. Nothing special about the gear either. Some of it was supervised shore fishing for panfish with a cane pole or literally a cut branch with 25 lb black braid. Some of it was holding the rod while trolling with Dare-Devils out of a row boat. While ice fishing you simply ran with the pole until the fish popped onto the ice. I just went into the truck if I got cold.
Tip ups also work really well for kids. They can play around with dad on the ice and watch for flags.
Kids LOVE tip-ups, good call!
Great Tips REV! I love the cooking their fish one. I didn’t think of that one!
Oh yeah. Ollie still talks about the fish we caught and ate last August!
For some reason, when I’m cleaning fish my kids call it “cutting” the fish. Makes sense huh? Anyway, last summer my folks rented a cabin near us for a few days and my 5yr old daughter spent a lot of time fishing off the dock and adding fish to a fish basket hanging off the end of the dock. Several times I’d mentioned that we needed to “clean” those fish before Grandma Grandpa left, so one night she finally agreed. I whipped out the filet knife and she, in a horrified voice stopped me with “NO Daddy, you can’t cut them! We have to clean them first!”
I was completely lost until she climbed up on a stool next to me with a scrub brush and a soap bottle. She then proceeded to “clean” the heck out of those fish with soap and water before handing them off to me, all sparkling clean, to “cut” into filets-all the while chatting at me happily. She was so proud of cleaning her own fish so I could “cut” them! THOSE are the happy memories you can’t even think up until they happen! 
-Rev
Lots of good tips here. I’ve had a number of “fishing” trips turn into tadpole chasing, minnow trapping, track identifying, bird nest searching, crawdad catching…. well you get it. The outdoors is a cool place and if fishing is slow, there’s always something to look at and talk about. The more they know about it the more they care the more they want to be good stewards… Congrats on the young one!
Congratulations on your son!
Took my daughter when she was 3 and now I have her 2 children (my grandson and my granddaughter) and they both started fishing from the boat at 3. All the tips above are great. For us it was snacks when the fishing slowed and boat rides from spot to spot. They have both continued there love of fishing since age 3. Grandson is 8 and granddaughter is 5. Just have fun and they will remember for a lifetime.
I just had a family with an infant rent one of my shacks on trout opener. She out fished her dad, but he got to help her bring the fish in so they kinda evened out.
My oldest turned 3 in September. This past summer, he really got into fishing, but his attention span is short. I took him in the boat once, but I will avoid doing that again until he can focus a little longer. He has a blast with short sessions from the dock, though.
Holey Smokes Ryan! The boy is getting big quick from the looks of that picture. Looks like he’s gonna be tall!
Looks like he’s gonna be tall!
I hope so, but I doubt it. He’s been right at the 50th percentile in height and weight since birth. Being that Mama is barely 5’0″, I am not holding my breath!
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
